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Thursday, April 20, 2017

Promo Post ~ The Mates Collection by Cardeno C. (Reviews+Giveaway)

A sensitive wolf shifter and a vicious vampire challenge history, greed, and the very fabric of their beings in order to stay together until forever comes.

Plagued by pain and weakness all his life, Ethan Abbatt is a wolf shifter who can’t shift. Hoping to find an honorable death by joining his pack mates in a vampire attack, Ethan instead learns two things: draining his blood releases his pain and his wolf, and he has a true mate - a vampire named Miguel.

Over four centuries old, strong, powerful, and vicious, Miguel Rodriguez walks through life as a shadow, without happiness or affection. When a young shifter tells Miguel they’re true mates, destined to be together, Miguel sends him away. But Ethan is persistent and being together comes so naturally that Miguel can’t resist for long. The challenge is keeping themselves alive so they can stay by each other’s side until forever comes.

Ethan is the runt of the pack. Weak, unable to shift and sick, he is intent on dying a somewhat honorable death, which makes him join other young members of his pack and fight against some vampires that have settled in the town near their pack lands. What he didn't count on was that one of those vampires would be his true mate.

Miguel is a 400-year old vampire, very powerful and not all too happy about the little wolf that keeps following him, but unable to turn him away as the attraction between the two burns bright.

I adored Ethan, he has the kind of voice that is a mix between sarcastic, self-deprecating and fun that I love and it was entertaining as all to see all that was happening through his eyes. He was a jealous little thing and determined to get his man.

Miguel was a bit prickly at first, but once he gave into Ethan, he was so sweet and protective.

Miguel and Ethan together were just perfect for each other, even when they didn't agree on vampire and shifter issues. And I also adored Chrissy and seeing how this book tied up with book one in the series. That was a lovely touch.

Until Forever Comes is fun, fast-paced, sexy, with enough angst and action thrown in to keep it interesting. Definitely recommendable!

A powerful Alpha wolf shifter and a strong-willed human overcome traditions ingrained over generations and uncover long-buried secrets to fulfill their destiny as true mates.

Regarded as the strongest wolf shifter in generations, Alpha Zev Hassick is surprised and confused by his attraction to his best friend. His very human, very male best friend. A male shifter has to mate with a female shifter to keep his humanity, so shifters can't be gay. Yet, everything inside Zev tells him Jonah is his true mate.

Maintaining a relationship with the man he has loved since childhood isn’t easy for Jonah Marvel, but he won’t let distance or Zev’s odd family get in their way. When unexplained ailments begin to plague Jonah, he needs to save his own life and sanity in order to have a future with Zev.

Zev and Jonah know they're destined for each other, but they must overcome traditions ingrained over generations and long-buried secrets to fulfill their destiny.

Zev and Jonah are life-long friends, even if one of them is a shifter and the other a human who doesn't realize his friend can turn into a wolf. There has always been a pull between them, but because of all the shifter lore Zev has been fed since childhood, he doesn't recognize that pull as attraction and even when he finally accepts it and the fact that they are true mates, he is unable to do much about it because they have to stay apart while Jonah completes his studies to be a doctor.

There's more to their story than initially meets the eye, though, especially in the second half of the book where many twists are thrown into the mix.

I loved Zev. He was loyal to a fault, loving, caring, responsible and strong. He sacrifices so much and is willing to do just about anything in order to be with Jonah.

I wanted to strangle Jonah a couple of times, especially with the cheating, even if he couldn't go through with it and I wished there had been a bit more conflict with that than just Zev being so understanding.

Other than that, I really enjoyed the story. The secondary characters, especially Toby and Lori were great and really added up to the story. It was a good start for the series, very hot, sweet, with a few surprising turns here and there.

Two very different men with a tumultuous history must overcome challenges from all sides and see past their society’s rules to realize they are destined for one another.

Raised to become Alpha of the Yafenack pack, Samuel Goodwin dedicates his life to studying shifter laws, strengthening his body, and learning from his father. But despite his best efforts, Samuel can’t relate to people, including those he's supposed to lead.

When Samuel meets Korban Keller, the son of a neighboring pack's Alpha, he reacts with emotion instead of intellect for the first time in his life. Resenting the other shifter for throwing him off-balance, Samuel first tries to intimidate Korban and then desperately avoids him. What he can't do is forget Korban's warm eyes, easy smile, and happy personality.

When a battle between their fathers ends tragically, Samuel struggles to lead his pack while Korban works to break through Samuel’s emotional barriers. Two very different men with a tumultuous history must overcome challenges from all sides and see past their society’s rules to realize they are destined for one another.

Samuel and Korban are members of different shifters' packs, each of them destined to become Alpha on their packs.

Samuel is more in touch with his wolf than Korban, and he's a bit of a scholar, preferring to submerge himself in his studies than to play, intent on being the best Alpha he can be, despite his father always reminding him that he needs to feel more empathy for their pack members. He's confused by his reactions to being near Korban and stays as far away from him as he can. Until something happens to bring them together and having to change his views in just about everything he'd held as truth all his life.

Korban is sweet, and more in touch with his feelings than Samuel, so he had realized the truth beforehand. It takes a tragedy for them to be able to work through some of their issues, but there's more than that getting in their way.

I loved this story! Both Korban and Samuel are lovable in their own right and together they are dynamite, so damn hot! I really liked the feuding packs' arc, it was different, and I enjoyed how Cardeno C. wove such an interesting storyline with the romance and the conflict Samuel felt regarding his attraction for Korban.

Rating: 5 Stars!!!

COMING MAY 4, 2017

To Touch You

“His name is Salvatore Rossi. He’s a vampire. And he’s my true mate.”

By not relying on anyone except himself, Salvatore Rossi escaped a dead-end existence and reached the height of corporate success. But just when he has everything he always wanted, fate throws Salvatore a challenge he can’t solve alone and a young wolf shifter comes to his rescue.

Since childhood, Yoram Smith’s family was certain he would grow to become Alpha and save their beloved pack from its slow demise. When the time comes for a new leader, Yoram is forced to juggle his duty to care for a splintering pack with his duty to care for an absent mate, and his own strength suffers.

Being turned into a vampire didn’t alter Salvatore’s life philosophy: if you don’t rely on anyone, nobody can let you down. But when the boy who saved his life becomes a man who needs his help, the icy vampire must find his humanity.